Contrary to the common narrative from anti-union groups, highly unionized school districts fire more underperforming teachers than non-unionized districts and have lower dropout rates, according to new research by economist Eunice Han.

Eunice Han

“It’s pretty simple, really,” said Han, who has a PhD in economics from Harvard University and spent the past three years as a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge. “By demanding higher salaries for teachers, unions give school districts a strong incentive to dismiss ineffective teachers before they get tenure. Highly unionized districts dismiss more bad teachers because it costs more to keep them. …

“Since unionized districts dismiss more bad teachers while keeping more good teachers, we should expect to observe higher teacher quality in highly unionized districts than less unionized districts – and this is exactly what I found,” she said.

“When unions, via high union density, reduce the dropout rate, they improve the educational attainment as well as the welfare of all children in the area.”

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As many students nationwide participated in a National School Walkout against gun violence, educators throughout Wisconsin wore orange Wednesday to demonstrate their support for common sense gun legislation. This is a good time to tell your legislators to co-sponsor the Wisconsin Student Safety Solutions legislation, which includes the principles for safe schools forwarded by the state Department of Public Instruction in partnership with WEAC.

Assembly Bill 835 – which increases the sparsity aid per student – was signed into law Monday by Governor Walker. Beginning in 2019, the bill increases the sparsity aid per pupil amount from $300 to $400. Under the bill, the appropriation for sparsity aid would be increased by $6.5 million in 2019. Sparsity aid was vetoed by the governor in the 2017-19 state budget, but he has said he supports the provisions now.